So private train companies cause more crashes do they? That’s the message being put out by SEKO, the Swedish trade union of Service and Communication Employees. They use the image above, with the slogan ‘Mer konkurrens?’ (shown as a small version in the image here to the right), making people think that privatisation and competition on the Swedish rail network is going to cause accidents.

But hold on a moment. As I’m a bit of a fan of rail travel, I know the trains in that image are not Swedish but Dutch—Plan V or Plan T according to Wikipedia. Google is also a great tool—it has allowed me to find this post on a Dutch blog that shows the original image used by SEKO and—surprise, surprise—the blue train in their image is actually a crude Photoshop job. Both trains in the picture were actually owned and run by Nederlandse Spoorwegen, the Dutch state owned rail company. So I reckon the image is rather deceptive. Plus have a look at this list of rail accidents from Wikipedia—a fair few of those are on state-run railways!

The image is rather deceptive? I think, Jon, that you are being more than a little generous there: I would call it a great big stinking lie.

Anyway, one must admit that it's fine detective work by Jon (you train-spotter, you!): go and read the rest to see what his his wider point is.

3 comments:

Those opposed to the principle of a private company operating a public service miss one vital point; that it is not good for profitability to kill ones customers. There is, therefore, a powerful motive for operating a clean, safe and efficient service.